CMM RR - LONG... (Read 1041 times)

Weather forecasts were gloomy. Not cloudy and rainy, but as a runner, to hear the high was 86 for the day, and supposed to heat up quickly is discouraging, especially for anyone who remembers Chicago in 2007. Nonetheless, the morning started well. The shower, the Clif bar, the Powerade, the apple. In the car with the fiance and out the door at 5 am. Parked at my alma mater and walked the 1.2 mile walk to the start and wandered around. After using the bathroom, I saw a few friends and talked to them. Then, they started all the stuff. The elite women were off. 18:30 later, the elite men headed off (for “The Battle of the Sexes”) and soon, I was out of corral 2 and hitting the road. I settled in around a 7:53 pace. Things felt great. Mile 2 was 7:43, a lot downhill. After mile 2, I ran by the Hilton hotel and saw the valets that I used to work with. Sped up a little bit screaming at them and them screaming back at me. Mile three was uphill….the whole way. Settled in comfortably at 7:51 pace. Mile 4 had some uphills also at 7:54. A little congestion at the 5 mile mark at 7:57. At this point, I was feeling great, but recognized I was sweating….A LOT. Nonetheless, was fine. Miles 6-10 were 7:45, 7:47, 7:47, 7:33, 7:42. I was rolling and felt amazing. I felt I had settled in, even through the hills and whatnot. I saw my fiance and my parents at a little after 10. I was on perfect time. I felt great. My legs felt amazing. Miles 11, 12, 13 were great, too. But, it was starting to get hot. 7:44, 7:53, 7:56 (uphill). Was still feeling good, but it was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Through the half at 1:42:22 - right where I wanted to be. Mile 14, I passed an elite runner sitting on a bus stop bench. I couldn’t quite figure it out. Mile 14 - 7:55. Mile 15 went to the greenway. There were no spectators, and suddenly, I was very uncomfortable. I don’t know how hot it was, but it was REALLY bad. Slowed to an 8:10, but was still okay. Yet, it was starting to get hard. I began to beat myself up mentally. Mile 16 was 8:21. I began to do the math to figure out what would happen if I had kept an 8:21 pace the entire time for the second half. It was still okay with me. Then, I passed two Kenyans. The elites were walking, talking, just fine. It suddenly hit me that it was ridiculously hot. It was at this point my idea moved from finish in 3:27ish to finish as quickly as possible. Oh yeah, walk when necessary and drink enough. 8:34 was the next mile, still okay, even with a short walk. Then, the wheels came off. The next mile is the notorious Metrocenter Blvd. Hill. It’s probably the worst thing I’d ever experienced today. Even running, I was dying. But, pushing up, it hit in 9:58. That hurt, physically and mentally. Nonetheless, I told myself to keep going. The next mile was in 9:25. That’s when the 3:30 pace group passed me. Yep, that one hurt, too. I pushed to catch up to them, but I was shot. My legs were still okay, but I was shot. Mile 20 was at 9:57, uphill. I saw the family and fiance, grabbed a Clif bar and some Gu and headed out again. Suddenly, it hit me…there are a LOT of people walking. You can’t train for heat. You can train, and train, and train, but the weather has a mind of its own, and if it doesn’t work for you on that day, it doesn’t care. Today was that day. Mile 21 was 10:01 with quite a bit of walking. I ate an apple while I walked, and it helped…maybe. I crunched numbers, and then I stopped. It didn’t matter, just get me to the line. Mile 22 was at 10:21. People were walking all over the place. I passed people, they passed me back. I saw some RA’ers struggling, too. That sucked, but at the same time, gave me the confidence that it wasn’t my fault I was missing my goal. In fact, something happened inside. The last 6 miles sucked. That’s the only way to say it. They hurt. I cramped. I cramped more. I had the worst cramps I’d ever had. But somehow, I enjoyed it. Here’s why: Around mile 22, the encouragement from people and from me just hit. Everyone was struggling, and we were feeding off one another. I met a guy named Mike from the Bronx. We hung together until one of us cramped, and then caught up. Mike and I wouldn’t let each other walk. It was feeding off one another. Mike finally cramped really bad and I didn’t see him. That’s when I passed Bo at about mile 24. Bo was walking and all I said was, “Let’s go, man.” Bo started running. Then I cramped really bad. My calves were cramping like nothing else. I’d never seen it like that before (read the bottom for the coolest part of this report…) I stopped to walk, Bo kept going. Then I pushed and Bo was walking so we played that game for a while. The last two miles were run together. This happened all around. I recognized I was struggling, and so was everyone else. We had to encourage each other. That part of the course is lonely enough as it is. That’s when I saw the best side of running. The camaraderie. Runners were truly pushing one another. Everyone needed each other. And somehow, that was the greatest part of the day to me. It was the pain, but hearing behind me, “Come on, now. Hang on. We’re almost there.” It was constant. It was peace. It was awesome. Sure, I missed my goal, but somewhere on that course, I found what happiness in running is, and that’s the fact that many people suddenly bind together for encouragement to one another. There’s a sense of true friendships that can’t be achieved through a computer, texting, but instead it’s compassionate words pushing one another, because we want each person to succeed. The cramps continued, and the final miles were 10:22, 10:51, 12:40, 10:44, and a final .2 of 1:56. I hurt. It hurt so bad. I crossed the finish line in 3:50:54. That’s 23+ minutes beyond my goal. It stunk, but then I realized there were very few people who hit their goals. Weather could have been better, but I saw an encouraging side of the running world, and it’s had me smiling all day. Plus, it’s a 7 minute PR. I PR’d on a ridiculous day where most people were 30 minutes beyond their goals. That’s awesome to me. It shows me that my training was not in vain. It also gives me a great chance to continue training where I’ve been, and to find a fall marathon to PR….with huge gains. The running world impressed me today. The day sucked, but in the end, I’ve got a positive outlook on what I saw. ***The special note on cramping*** In the past two marathons, I have cramped, but they went away after running. I crossed the finish line, and it hurt, but no big deals. So I went, grabbed some food and drink, got some pictures, then sat down with my fiance, my parents, and her parents. Suddenly, my calves cramped. I can handle cramps, but this was horrible. I looked like I was having convulsions on the ground. I looked at my calves while my dad and my father-in-law (in 3 weeks) pushed my feet toward my body to ease the pain. Suddenly, Steve (the F-I-L) went to the med tent. As he went, I glanced at my right calve and it was literally concave from the muscle contractions. It hurt so bad. By the time he got to the med tent, it stopped. It was done. It was still twitching, but the pain was done. It was over. The med tent lady came over with some salt and Cytomax and talked to me about how much I’d drank. I informed her that I had drank plenty at which she mentioned hyponatremia. That’s when I told her I’d been taking salt on the course to offset that. Told her I was fine. She stood there, looking at my cramping leg and told me that of all the cases she’d seen for the day, I had the absolute best cramps of them all. With everyone else, she could only feel them, but for me, she could see them. I was so proud. I pr’d, and I won the award for the coolest looking cramps! Onto more training for more races. 10k in June 5k in August Flat and fast marathon in the fall. Oh yeah, probably like November or December so it's freaking cold.

bummer you missed your goal, but CONGRATS on a PR in those conditions! I was wondering how fast our 95+ temps last Sat-Sun-Mon would travel across country. That's some nasty heat for running!

Whew! That's tough. Sorry to hear about the bad luck with the heat. I have enjoyed reading about your progress that you have made with your training recently and seems like you were so ready to clobber this one. Good luck with your continued running and hope you get the right conditions this fall becasue you will clobber it if you do.

Well done Ryan. You fought the beast and PR'd. Well done! Now we can run Indy in October (when its nice and crisp and hit that 3:20

I pr’d, and I won the award for the coolest looking cramps!

VERY cool! congrats!

Nice race report, and Congrats on the PR. WTG!

Conrats on the PR, sorry about the cramps. Been there, done that.

Ritz was cramping up in the last six miles of the London marathon, so you're in good company.

Sweet. 2012 Olympic Marathon team....here I come.